RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - High school basketball is back in its normal spot on the prep sports calendar and the Cordova Lancers have gotten their season underway this month.

“We have a young group,” Cordova boys basketball head coach Fletcher Johnson said. “They are good kids, they are smart. They get after it. They are very coachable.”

The Lancers count depth as one of its strengths, including Jayvyn De Vera, Cody Jones and Louis Griffin. The rest of the roster is Kevin Lewis, Evan Lee, Taivant Negron, Eli Campbell, Jakobe Knox, Roman Panasyuk, Carl Anderson, Xavier Bibbs, Jabari Pugh and Andranik Morzovanyan.

“We have three teams and close to 15 on each team. Forty-five kids in the program and kids that want to be in the program. The future is looking bright,” Johnson said. “It’s a good time to be a Cordova Lancer basketball player.”

The Lancers played their first game on Saturday in falling to Rosemont 63-59. Cordova led 21-10 after the first quarter and led going into the fourth quarter before being outscored 21-11. De Vera was the leading scorer with 16 points followed by Pugh with 15 points and Anderson with 14 points.

This season follows a pandemic shortened season during the Spring with the Lancers playing just seven games.

“It’s good right now because last year we didn’t get to do much, but this year we have more games and more people to compete with and good competition,” CHS Lancer De Vera said.

CHS Lancer Jones added, “I feel like everyone because of the coronavirus, we didn’t get to play, and I feel like it is great to be back in the gym and everyone just wants to get after it. We want to make sure this season counts.”

At the end of December, Cordova will host its 45th annual Cordova Christmas Classic featuring 16 teams from around Northern California.

Johnson, who is a 1982 graduate of the school, returned to Cordova High School as a basketball coach in 1998. He took over the boys basketball varsity team for the 2011-2012 season. His tenure now includes coaching sons of former players.

“It is really kind of indescribable. It is a moment you cherish to know their parents and then to have their parents have the trust to bring their kids here,” Johnson said. “Right now, you have kids that are coachable. The thing that I’ve always admired about Rancho Cordova is the diversity. Diverse group of kids that all get along and play hard together. When I moved here in 1981 from Texas, that was the thing that stood out the most then and I see it back in here now.”